Spain

Spain 0-2 USA; Bring on the Critics

It’s been a day and half since our shock exit from the Confederations Cup to the hands of the US. Now sure, the United States have a history of fighting for everything they wanted, from their independence from the British to helping Kuwait in the Gulf War against Iraq and more recently to liberating the world from weapons of mass destruction (or in other words George Bush trying to do one better than his father) but seriously, this was one task that I thought for sure the Yanks had no chance of coming out on top of. Defeating the former European Champions in a football match might not hold the same significance as The American Revolution, The American Civil War or Neil Armstrong being the first man to land on the moon, but this is another notch on the United States’ long list of victories. I really thought it was going to be a Vietnam repeat where the US had a bigger task than they could amount to but this is the so called “land of dreams” right? Anything was possible.

The comments over the past day and half have been more than entertaining with all the haters posting to no end. I shouldn’t be surprised really as I probably brought it upon myself being one of the cockiest bloggers ever to write for the World Cup Blog but hey, thats what this game is all about. You enjoy your victories more but take your defeats harder, its a risk worth taking in my eyes.

I mean really, the records speak for themselves, 35 matches unbeaten and a 15 match win streak is more than impressive and makes us the most successful team in terms of those kind of statistics throughout history which is respectable to say the least.

Now sure, we did lose and all credit to the U.S. who played a tough match, got the vital goal and sat on their lead but understandably so. Everyone knows we probably (alongside possibly the Dutch) have the best attacking lineup in international football and defending properly was key to the United States pulling off the upset that they did. But lets be realistic here - we completely dominated the match and the statistics showed that. From start to finish we were the stronger of the two sides with much better chances created and definitely could have won but watching the game again both Villa and Torres amongst others will definitely rue their missed chances. Having said that though, its a shame games aren’t judged based on statistics and at the end of the day a win is a win no matter how you get it and the U.S. did just that.

I think though at the same time everyone has to also realize that by no means does this indicate the downfall of the Spanish or does it make us “a weak side”. I loved the people claiming they “couldn’t wait” to see what myself amongst other Spanish fans were going to come up with as excuses to defend my beloved sides “choke” exit to the hands of the Yanks. Quite frankly I don’t have any excuses, we played a solid match and like I said, we missed a few sitters which at the end of the day ultimately would have got us the win and saw us play Brazil in the finals of the Confederations Cup.

No excuses here, but explanations to as why maybe we didn’t look as convincing in this tournament are in order. Of course these are all personal observations but I’m sure anyone who is either a Spanish fan or knows anything about the still-strongest side in the world would have seen the same.

Without Iniesta on the right and David Silva on the left our wing play was very limited. The absences of Iniesta and Silva, who are probably the best players in the world in their positions on their day is a huge blow considering we relied so heavily upon them in Austria and Switzerland where we convincingly triumphed. You can’t expect Fàbregas or Xavi to have the same impact on the right wing when they are both naturally central midfielders and considering they played there throughout the tournament, we didn’t do half-bad. Everyone knows Iniesta is one of a kind and his absence was probably single handedly our greatest blow this whole tournament. His link-up play with Xavi is mouth watering and not having it obviously took a lot out of our game.

Marcos Senna may be getting on in years but his presence in the centre of the park is vital to both our attacking and defensive play. He’s a rock and was arguable one of our keys to success in winning the European Championships and once again, another key figure out of the lineup is a huge blow. Xabi Alonso is a solid replacement and I love his play but the type of player he is doesn’t allow Xavi that luxury to roam the way he did when Senna was behind him, not to mention it doesn’t help when he’s playing out on the right flank…

Now like I said, no excuses but when you have three of your most influential players missing of course your approach will have to change and because of it we weren’t as effective, its that simple.

Another huge factor was our grouping. It was easier than easy and while the score lines might not suggest that, it was. As the matches went on we became more content and just because we only defeated Iraq 1-0, it sure as hell doesn’t mean we are only that much better than them. Complacency ultimately screwed us over and because we had such a easy group along with the fact that the U.S. arguably fluked their way into the semi-finals caused us to automatically already look ahead to the final against Brazil (who we assumed would smash South Africa but arguably came out with a lucky win themselves). Not justifying our probable stupidity, just merely explaining it.

I think as long as you keep that in mind you will still understand that by no means are we all of a sudden any weaker or less of a threat but the U.S. match was merely a small detour in our road to success.

It now means that Vicente del Bosque has suffered his first loss since taking charge but at the same time it could be a blessing in disguise seeing as he can now play around with the lineup to find the perfect combination before the World Cup next year. Just as all great leaders have suffered loses, del Bosque has suffered one too but unlike Hitler, Mussolini or even Jesus Christ, it is not the end of his world and the situation can be easily rectified.

I thought I’d add a bit of my two cents in just for the record as well (as if I hadn’t enough already eh?). This has been a fun couple weeks of blogging and regardless of what happened in this dreadful semifinal, I will never give up my confidence in my beloved team. Don’t think of it as cockiness just think of it as reality or truth. Everyone is ecstatic when their team is on top and I sure as hell am no different, we’re still on top of the world and maybe its a blessing that this happened in the Confederations Cup instead of next year in the World Cup. So in response to all the Yanks and whoever else was critiquing my beloved country; we had a bad game, I think everyone is entitled to one and we’ll just have to wait until the World Cup next year in South Africa to see who the strongest nation is, hopefully it’ll be us but as we saw - no guarantees.